About the research

I would like to thank here all my informants and gate keepers, and my sifu, without you this project would never be possible.Thank you! 武术一个家

What is the experience of psychological collectivism in traditional wushu? What do the training communities look like? Is there any connection between psychological collectivism and mental toughness? And is that different for modern and traditional wushu?

The purpose of this mixed methods research (partially mixed sequential equal status design) was to investigate psychological collectivism and mental toughness in traditional wushu among young adult Europeans. The study was proposed into two parts: First one is qualitative, exploring and grounding the phenomena of psychological collectivism and mental toughness in the qualitative data. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used, as a special tool to explore complexity and novelty. The second part made use of the quantitative approach to propose a model using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), namely the Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause Model (MIMIC) and Multiple Group Model, when treating both groups of traditional wushu and modern wushu practitioners as two groups to compare their results in psychological collectivism and mental toughness.

The thesis will be available to read in the early 2019.You can read the abstract with results below.

Reports from fieldwork in China, including modern and traditional wushu (kung fu): Beijing wushu team training, Xing Yi in Beijing, Shanghai university wushu major, staying in schools in Wudangshan and Shaolin; plus several videos.

News from Europe, countries whose citizens joined the research, results in the future

Abstract:Wushu, Chinese martial art, consists of modern and traditional groups of styles. Previously it was researched that modern and traditional martial arts have different outcomes. Since traditional wushu is said to be rooted in Chinese values, its environment is a unique place to research psychological collectivism. Moreover, mental toughness is a new topic in the field of martial arts, and its connection with psychological collectivism was only researched on the society, not personality level. This study aimed to fill these gaps.

This mixed methods research consisted of qualitative Study 1 and quantitative Study 2. Study 1 aimed to understand, what is the experience of psychological collectivism in traditional wushu training. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight European adult participants of traditional wushu and were analyzed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. In the Study 2, 277 European adult respondents (111 modern wushu and 166 traditional wushu practitioners) filled in the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire and Psychological Collectivism Questionnaire. To research the relationship of practicing modern or traditional wushu with psychological collectivism and mental toughness, several steps were done. First, the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were run to test both models. Next, final model was tested using the Structural Equation Modelling. Model comparisons, path analysis and effects were completed.

In the Study 1, five themes emerged from the data. The first one described how kung fu (traditional wushu) provided structure and direction for the interviewees. Also, it described them adapt better to the outer world and their ability to switch from being gentle to being ruthless. The second theme described perception of time. The third one explored kung fu community and provided a probe into the group identity and how the positioning closer to the master provided better learning option; the community served as the knowledge keeper. The third theme explored bridging gaps in communication. Finally, the fifth theme discovered seriousness of the practitioners, who had to endure mentally and physically torturous training. In Study 2, during the structural equation modeling the final model was confirmed as well as differences in the two groups of modern and traditional wushu. Moreover, it was found, that number of joined competitions or years of training did not result in a significant path with mental toughness, but perceived level of skill did. Relationship between psychological collectivism and mental toughness was found only in the traditional wushu group, however on a marginal p level.

Psychological collectivism was explored in traditional wushu and helped to understand the structure and functioning of its community. The seriousness of its members served as a commodity, to ransom better position in the group. In the quantitative study, this seriousness seemed to be connected with the perceived level of skill. This variable resulted in the significant path with mental toughness. Therefore, it is suggested that social environment of the serious practitioners, who put themselves through demanding training, helped to develop mental toughness. This development is not based on the number of years in training, but rather on the way the practitioners perceive themselves.

Traditional wushu is operationally defined as type of wushu (Chinese martial arts styles), an origin for modern wushu, with long history and bearing cultural and philosophical aspects of Chinese society (International Wushu Federation, n.d.). The purpose was originally self-defense (Liang, 2010) and particular systems are transited from master to students (Kennedy & Guo, 2005).

Psychological Collectivism is operationally defined as tendency to internalized norms of people's in-groups and being a member of one or more, preference for consensus and solidarity and understanding hierarchy and oneself as changeable in a stable environment; allocentrism (Triandis, 2001). It refers to a personality scale of collectivism, in so called micro approach (Kim, Triandis, Kagitcibasi, Choi & Yoon, 1994).

Modernwushu is operationally defined as an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional wushu. Practitioners focus on two separated categories: taolu (routines) and sanda (fighting). Modern wushu is dated to 1949 and was developed to standardize the traditional wushu (European wushu kung fu federation, n.d.).